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2.
8 How to use
How do you get from “Hoaxes” to “Everyday surveillance”
in six easy steps? The fun way to get around the book.
10 Air Force One
Go behind the scenes and ﬁnd out what really goes
on in the US president’s personal plane.
12 Mind the gaffe!
Be careful where you blow your nose. What’s polite
in one country may be bad manners in another.
14 Leaks and moles
Those people who specialize in poking and prying,
then spill the beans to the media.
16 The almighty dollar
Take a close look at the money in your hand.
There may be more to it than you think.
18 Flag it up
The fascinating facts behind some of the world’s
national ﬂag designs.
20 Cheyenne Mountain
Deep beneath an American mountain lies a huge
military complex—a self-contained secret world.
22 Global eavesdropping
Do you think your emails and phone calls are private?
Think again—someone is always listening!
24 Watchers in space
The satellites that orbit Earth do a lot more than just
transmit TV signals...
26 Lost treasures
There’s a lot of lost loot out there just waiting for some
lucky dude to come and ﬁnd it.
28 Christopher Columbus
Find out if the great explorer who discovered America
was really that great after all.
30 Who crossed the Atlantic ﬁrst?
Which valiant voyager was the ﬁrst across the Pond?
The answer might surprise you...
32 Nazca Lines
Stretching across a Peruvian desert are ancient pictures
that can only be seen from the sky. What’s that about?
34 Hidden gold
Find out where much of the world’s solid-gold bling
is stashed away—and how it’s kept safe and sound.
36 Lost tribes
Deep in rain forests around the world live tribes of people,
still untouched by the modern world. Can you ﬁnd them?
40 Bermuda Triangle
What really happened to all those ships and aircraft
that “disappeared” in this small area of the Caribbean?
44 The mystery of the Mary Celeste
The eerie fate of this abandoned ship remained
unsolved for years... is the truth still submerged?
48 Who are the Men in Black?
Seen an alien recently? If so, you might just receive
a visit from the mysterious Men in Black.
50 Time travel
Imagine how amazing it would be to travel to the past
or future. Could it really be possible one day?
52 Piri Reis map
Just how did the creator of this mysterious ancient
map know what he knew?
54 Create your own state
Ever imagined running your own country? Now you can!
Just follow our simple instructions.
56 Everyday surveillance
Somebody is watching you! Via CCTV, the internet,
and even your cell phone, “they” can follow your every move.
58 Bar codes
Just how do those strange black-and-white stripes
on the back of everything you buy work?
60 Hackers
Learn the tricks of the trade that those cheeky
people use to break into computer systems.
62 Iris recognition
Did you know that your eyes are unique? Your future
security is the blink of an eye.
64 Secret services
From CIA to MI6, ﬁnd out what the world’s secret
service agencies are up to.

3.
66 Kremlin
The stories and secrets behind the ofﬁcial residence
of the Russian president.
68 Great escapes
The stories of ingenious and death-defying escapes
pulled off by plucky prisoners from around the world.
72 Escapology
The life and times (and secrets) of Houdini—the world’s
most famous escapologist.
78 Magic tricks
Hey presto! Three amazing tricks and how magicians
pull them off.
82 Holbein’s The Ambassadors
Can you ﬁnd the hidden messages? There’s more
to this old painting than meets the eye.
84 Arnolﬁni Marriage
Discover the symbolic meanings behind the objects
that the artist has included in this famous painting.
86 Fibonacci
The intriguing system of numbers discovered by
this Italian mathematical genius.
88 Vatican
Myths, mysteries, and legends surround
the Pope’s city within a city.
90 Turin Shroud
The legendary burial cloth of Jesus Christ—a hoax or reality?
Look at the evidence and decide for yourself.
92 Mary Queen of Scots
How she was imprisoned, betrayed, and ultimately
murdered in a cold-blooded plan involving a secret code.
94 Haunted places
Some of the most haunted places around the world,
and the stories of the ghosts that inhabit them.
96 Spooky!
Spine-chilling supernatural goings-on—from pesky
poltergeists to icky ectoplasm.
98 At the theater
Go behind the scenes and discover a hive of activity,
from hair and hats to light and sound.
106 Private eye
Enter the murky world of the private investigators
and ﬁnd out how they ﬁnd out what we’re up to.
108 Strange vibrations
Ever felt like you’re being watched, or you know who’s
calling you before you pick up the phone? Read on...
110 Secret writing
Cryptic coding and inventive ways to hide messages,
including how to make your own invisible ink!
112 Numbers
Have you got a lucky number? Numbers can be lucky
in one country and unlucky in another. Find out why.
114 Nostradamus
Check out the predictions made by this 16th-century
French seer. Did he really see the future?
116 Rosetta Stone
The amazing carved stone that enabled archeologists
to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
118 Ancient pyramids
These enigmatic structures can be found all around
the world. Why were they built?
120 Giza secrets
The intriguing mysteries behind the famous pyramid
built as the tomb of the pharaoh Khufu 4,000 years ago.
122 The curse of Tutankhamun
When the Egyptian boy-king’s tomb was discovered
in1922, terrible things befell those who opened it...
128 Ancient technology
Was the jet engine really a modern invention? Or did
the ancient Greeks get there way before us?
130 Stealth technology
Find out why this cool craft can dodge detection
as it scoots around the skies.
132 Enigma code
The ingenious codemaker the Germans used in World War II
had the best brains in England scratching their heads.
134 Hitler’s secret
Hidden away deep in the mountains of Norway, Hitler
had a secret factory. What was it making?

4.
136 Hoaxes
Don’t believe everything you hear... Would you have
fallen for any of these super spoofs?
138 Anastasia: the lost princess
When the Russian royal family was assassinated in 1917,
many believed that young Princess Anastasia survived...
140 Roswell Alien Tribune
Read all about it! Alien spacecraft crashes near quiet
American town! (Or did it...?)
142 Lord Lucan
The mysterious case of the missing lord, who
denied murder, then disappeared into thin air.
144 Two presidents
Creepy coincidences in the lives and deaths of
US presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.
150 Who was Jack?
The horrible murders committed by infamous Jack the Ripper
in 19th-century London are still in the news.
152 Human genome
The incredible chemical “recipe” hidden in your
cells that makes you the you that you are.
154 DNA time capsule
Did you know we can all trace our ancestry back
to one lively lady who lived in Africa?
156 Dark matter
The weird invisible space stuff that makes up 96%
of everything there is.
158 Brainwashing
Keep changing your mind? You will if you fall victim
to these crafty techniques.
160 Advertising tricks
What makes those trainers “must have,” or that ice cream
irresistible? Learn to resist the tricks!
162 What’s in your food?
You might think it’s just a chicken burger, but read
on to see what you’re really eating!
164 Want a strawberry milkshake?
It might shake you up to discover how many additives
and chemicals go into this favorite drink.
166 The body uncovered
Some weird and wacky facts about that incredible machine
known as the human body.
168 Dirt
How clean is your home? Check out the bugs and bacteria
that lurk in every nook and cranny.
170 Nuclear waste
What is it? What do they do with it? And what are the
long-term consequences of producing it?
172 Alchemy
Think it’s all hocus-pocus? Think again. This ancient
science is explosive stuff!
174 Alchemists and wizards
Magical folk through the ages who have dabbled in the
mysteries of alchemy.
176 Memory tricks
You need never forget anything again. These clever tricks
will turn you into a memory maestro.
180 Unconscious mind
Nightmares, sleep paralysis, déjà vu... what your mind
gets up to when you’re not in control.
182 Reincarnation
Lots of people think they have lived a previous life.
Have you been here before?
184 Spontaneous combustion
Weird tales of those unfortunate folks who suddenly
burst into ﬂames.
186 Body language
Can you tell when someone’s telling lies? Learn
to read what people are saying with their bodies.
188 Hide and seek
Look closely. Can you see what’s cunningly camouﬂaged
in the landscape?
192 Fake diamonds
Can you spot a real sparkler from a fake? Find out
how the cheap copies are made.
194 Safecracking
The ingenious methods that burglars use to get at the
valuables locked in a safe.

5.
196 Conspiracy theories
Did astronauts really land on the Moon? Was Marilyn Monroe
murdered? Or is it all a cover-up?
200 UFO
Are they the real deal or ﬂawed photos? UFOs from around
the world caught on camera.
202 Secret societies
Psst... Want to be in my gang? Welcome to the dark domain
of clandestine clubs.
204 Forbidden City
Enter the secretive world of China’s Imperial Palace in Beijing
and discover what went on behind closed doors.
206 Law tour
Don’t go breaking any of these loopy laws, or they might just
lock you up and throw away the key!
208 Paris underground
Beneath the streets of France’s capital lies a hidden world
of tunnels that conceal a multitude of secrets.
210 Knights Templar
Was this mysterious order of knights from Jerusalem guardian
of the legendary Holy Grail?
212 Atlantis
Are the stories of an advanced civilization that disappeared
beneath the sea truth or legend?
214 Movie studios
Take an illuminating guided tour around a movie studio
and discover what goes on behind the scenes.
220 Magic Eye
Can you see the picture hidden in the pattern? Keep
looking—it may suddenly jump out at you!
222 Optical illusions
Is what you see what you get, or are your eyes playing tricks
on you?
224 Magic Eye
Look, another hidden picture! Can you work out how to see
it yet? Here we show you how.
226 Fractals
Check out the mysterious mathematical repeating patterns
that can be seen in nature.
228 Weird weather
Don’t leave home without your umbrella—it’s raining frogs
again! Check out how wacky the weather can be.
230 Standing stones
They can be found all around the world. Who built these
mysterious structures and what were they for?
232 Missing links
Are whales and hippos related? Check out how some
prehistoric creatures link to animals today.
236 Crazy zoo
Visit our zoo of mythological creatures—and ﬁnd out
which of them escaped to reality!
240 Werewolves versus vampires
Two legendary freaky folks battle it out. Who do you think
will come out on top?
242 Elvis
Discover why some people believe that the king of rock
and roll lives on (the man, that is, not the legend).
244 Revealed
Check out the answers to some of our brainteasers.
246 Glossary
248 Index
255 Acknowledgments

6.
From secret services to conspiracy theories, this book will
take you on a magical mystery tour of the truth behind
the known and the unknown.
Whichever way you choose to read this book, you’re
sure of an instant hit of cool info. Of course, if you want
to, you can just start reading Do Not Open in the old-
fashioned way, by starting at the beginning. Or you can
just dive in to the book at any point and then follow our
special links to related subjects on other pages. So, for
example, if you started with UFO, and then wanted to
know more about weird extra-terrestrial happenings, just
look for the links on the bottom of the right-hand page—
they’ll take you straight to other interesting alien stuff.
Your journey through the pages will depend on which links
you choose to follow. In time, you can probably work your
way through the whole book!
Here’s an example of just one way you could get from
Hoaxes to Everyday surveillance in just six steps.
Anastasia
For more lost
souls, seek out
Bermuda Triangle
on pp. 40–41 and
Haunted places on
pp. 94–95.
Hoaxes
Fact or ﬁction?
For more suspicious
stories, check out
Anastasia: the lost
princess on pp. 138–
139 and Crazy zoo on
pp. 236–239.
Welcome to Do Not Open,
a fact-packed compendium of
all the weird and wonderful
stuff they don’t want you to
know about!
6 Spaghetti on trees
10 Alien crop circles
9 Pickled dragon
Tower for sale!
2 World Jump Day
1Aliens invade
They say there’s a sucker born
every minute. The world is full of
hoaxers, and these are some of
the best spoofs that have been
pulled. Would you have fallen
for any of these tall tales?
Be honest, now...
8
Fairies exist 4
5 6 7 8 9 10
Flying saucers seen on TV
In 2002, the UK’s Channel 4
TV channel got a special
effects company to build
them a small ﬂying saucer.
They then “ﬂew” the saucer
over the town of Avebury,
suspended from a balloon,
to test witness reactions. The
ﬂying saucer looked great
on ﬁlm, but not in reality, and
witnesses realized immediately
that it was a hoax.
Spaghetti trees
On April 1, 1957, the usually
serious BBC decided to play
a trick on its UK viewers.
They broadcast a deadpan
documentary about growing
spaghetti in Switzerland.
The ﬁlm featured a family
picking spaghetti from trees.
So many people were fooled
that garden centers were
overrun with demand for
spaghetti bushes!
Great highway of China
In 1899, newspapers
around the world reported
on how the Chinese
planned to demolish their
famous Great Wall to build
a highway in its place.
Years later, four journalists
from Colorado admitted
to making up the story on
a day when there was no
exciting news.
Eiffel Tower going cheap
In 1925, Paris’s famous
Eiffel Tower was rusting and
rundown, so conman Victor
Lustig decided to pose
as a French government
ofﬁcial, offering it for sale
to scrap metal dealers.
One convinced dealer
paid the money up front.
When Lustig left with the
cash, the dealer was too
embarrassed to complain
to the police.
Dragon discovered
In 2004, Allistair Mitchell
found a pickled dragon
in a bottle in his garage.
He claimed that German
scientists had created it
in the 1890s, to fool their
British rivals in the Natural
History Museum. In fact,
Mitchell was an author trying
to get a publishing deal for
his book about dragons, and
he’d had the dragon made
by modelmakers.
Alien landing sites
In the late 1970s, strange
circles of ﬂattened
crops began to appear
mysteriously overnight in
ﬁelds in England. People
wondered whether the crops
had been ﬂattened by alien
spacecraft. Then, in 1991,
Doug Bower and Dave
Chorley admitted to creating
the crop circles with planks,
ropes, and wire.
5
1 2 3 4
Alien invason: millions ﬂee!
In 1938, a US radio show
announced that the world
was being attacked by
invaders from Mars. Listeners
panicked—preparing their
cars, loading guns, and
hiding in cellars. Only later
did it become clear that it
was simply part of a radio
drama by Orson Welles of
H. G. Wells’s famous story
The War of the Worlds.
Did the Earth move?
At 11:39 a.m. on July 20,
2006, an odd event was
meant to happen. Six
hundred million people in
Europe and the US were to
jump at exactly the same
time in order to shift the
Earth’s orbit slightly and
so prevent global warming.
Advertised as World Jump
Day, the event was, of
course, a complete spoof.
Hitler’s diaries published!
In 1983, German magazine
Stern and the English
Sunday Times newspaper
gripped their readers by
publishing extracts said to
be from the secret diaries
of Adolf Hitler. Historians
veriﬁed the diaries were
genuine, but within weeks,
the diaries were exposed
as recent fakes written by
German forger Konrad Kujau.
Proof that fairies exist
In 1917, 16-year-old Elsie
Wright and 10-year-old
Frances Grifﬁth stunned
the world with photos of
them playing with fairies in
their garden in Cottingley,
England. It wasn’t until 1981
that Elsie admitted they had,
in fact, faked the photos…
but Frances still claimed that
they had really seen fairies.
Flying saucers
Great Wall of China demolished 7
3 Hitler’s diaries found
HOAXES
136 137 Hoaxes Fact or ﬁction? For more suspicious stories, check out Anastasia: the lost princess on pp. 138–139 and Crazy zoo on pp. 236–239.
Ale
xei Roman
ov
Ana
stasia Roma
nov
M
aria Roman
ov
Tat
iana Roman
ov
O
lga Romano
v
Nicholas II
Anastasia:the lost princess
The Romanovs
In 1894, Nicholas II became
czar and ruled over Russia.
He married the German
Princess Alexandra two
years later. They had
four beautiful daughters
called Olga, Tatiana, Maria,
and Anastasia. The couple
longed for a son, since only
a boy could become czar.
Finally, in 1904, their son
Alexei was born.
138 139 Anastasia: the lost princess For more lost souls, seek out Bermuda Triangle on pp. 40–43 and Haunted places on pp. 94–95.
In 1917, the czar (emperor) of Russia, Nicholas II, was
overthrown by a bloody revolution. Revolutionary guards
seized the czar, his wife Alexandra, their four young
daughters, and their son Alexei. Then, on July 16, 1918,
they were taken to a basement in Ekaterinburg and shot. The
assassination of the Russian royal family shocked the public
and many people refused to believe it had happened. Rumors
spread that the youngest daughter, Anastasia, had escaped.
But if so, where was she?
Sole survivor?
Some stories say that
Alexei was also protected
from the bullets by a
diamond vest and managed
to escape. Soon various men
appeared, claiming to be the
prince. No one took the claims
seriously, because Alexei
suffered from hemophilia—
a condition in which the blood
fails to clot. This makes his
survival unlikely.
The truth is tested
In the 1980s, the emergence
of DNA testing enabled Anna
Anderson’s claim that she was
Anastasia to be tested. Though
Anna was now dead, a sample of her
DNA from a hospital operation survived.
Anna’s DNA was tested against a sample from
the UK’s Duke of Edinburgh—a close relative of
the Romanovs. She was not the lost princess,
but a poor Polish girl.
The royal burial
In July 1998, the remains of Czar Nicholas II,
his wife, and three of his daughters were ﬁnally
buried in St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s cathedral
in St. Petersburg. But who was the missing
daughter? Russian experts concluded from skull
measurements that it was Maria. Others pointed
out that all the princesses’ bodies found were tall,
yet Anastasia was very short. Could Anastasia
have survived?
Family massacre
On the fateful day that the Romanov family
was shot in the basement, bullets seemed
to bounce off three of the sisters. This
was because the girls were protected
by the diamonds they had sewn in their
clothes. At this point, the guards used
bayonets to kill them. However, a soldier
named Tchaikovsky claimed he had seen
Anastasia moving and rescued her.
Captive audience
The possibility that Anastasia, the youngest
princess, had survived captured the public’s
imagination. The fact that she had stood to
inherit a huge fortune also inspired interest.
Of all the women who claimed to be Anastasia,
Anna Anderson had the most supporters. She
was taken to a mental hospital with memory
loss in 1920, after attempting to jump off a
Berlin bridge. When Anna Anderson died in
1984, many still believed she was Anastasia.
Finding the bodies
After the family was killed, the bodies were
thrown down a mineshaft, then later brought
up and buried in a forest. In the 1980s, three
men found the grave but kept their discovery
secret. DNA tests in 1998, after the bodies
were ﬁnally dug up, conﬁrmed they were the
Romanovs. Strangely, not one but two bodies
were missing—one of the girls’ and also Alexei’s.
Alexand
ra of Hesse-D
armstadt
Fact or ﬁction? For more suspicious stories, check out Anastasia: the lost princess on pp. 138–139 and Crazy zoo on pp. 236–239.

7.
Who are the Men in Black?
Who else is watching
you? Find out in Global
eavesdropping on pp. 22–23
and Everyday surveillance on
pp. 56–57.
UFO
For more encounters of the alien
kind, visit Who are the Men in
Black? on pp. 48–49 and Roswell
Alien Tribune on pp. 140–141.
Everyday surveillance
For more undercover
investigations, sneak a peak at
Secret services on pp. 64–65 and
Private eye on pp. 106–107.
Haunted places
For more spine-tingling stories, see
Spooky! on pp. 96–97, UFO on
pp. 200–201, and Vampires versus
werewolves on pp. 240–241.
Castle chills
Dark and ancient vaults lie inside the
rock on which Scotland’s Edinburgh Castle
stands. Some parts of the vaults are more
than 900 years old, and many visitors
sense unexplained chills or see a phantom
presence. So much paranormal activity has
been reported that scientists are conducting
tests to see if there is any explanation.
Impaled prisoners
The cruel Vlad Dracula lived in
Hunedora Castle in Wallachia,
Romania, during the 15th century.
The ghosts of prisoners he impaled
have been seen here. During
renovations in 1995, builders
reported that objects began
ﬂying around.
Headless hauntings
The Tower of London, England,
dates from the 11th century.
Many poor souls have been
beheaded here over the years,
including Anne Boleyn, wife of
King Henry VIII, and the explorer
Sir Walter Raleigh. The towers are
teeming with headless spirits, if
reports are to be believed!
Murder mystery
The 19th-century country retreat of Monte
Cristo is said to be Australia’s most haunted
house, with reports of ghostly voices, phantom
footsteps, and ﬂoating heads. Psychics say a
young girl was murdered here long ago and
that they can sense her body being carried
across the paddock, dripping blood. Creepy!
Army of ghosts
More than 1,000 years ago, Emperor Charlemagne
smashed a pagan altar stone at the sacred site of
Osnabrück-Haste, Germany, to show the triumph of
Christianity. Ever since, people have seen balls of light,
bloodstains, and a ghostly army led by Charlemagne.
Ghostly guide
In 1901, two ladies were walking in
the gardens of Versailles by a cottage
kept by French queen Marie Antoinette.
They talked to a man in 18th-century attire
about the house and only later found out
that the door he had emerged from had
been bricked up more than a century before.
Smelly specters
Odd odors, ﬂoating bricks, the sound of galloping
horses, and the face of a ghostly nun have all been
reported at Borley Rectory, England. Built in the
1800s for the Reverend Henry Bull, it is said to
be one of England’s most haunted houses.
HAUNTED
PLACES
Come in, I’ve been
expecting you...
94 95 For more spine-tingling stories, see Spooky! on pp. 96–97, UFO on pp. 200–201, and Vampires versus werewolves on pp. 240–241.Haunted places
The world’s most scary sites
are usually ancient buildings, steeped
in turbulent history. From headless
horsemen to wailing women, the ghosts
of the past are restless, tortured by
traumatic events and untimely endings.
There are countless reports of hauntings
through the ages, but these are some of
the most chilling. Enter at your peril...
200 201 UFO
Since World War II, countless people have reported
seeing mysterious ﬂying disks and ﬂashing lights in
the sky. Could these unidentiﬁed ﬂying objects (UFOs)
be alien craft from outer space eager to pay Earth a
visit? Critics say close encounters of the alien kind are
really just sightings of secret military aircraft. Others
insist that we might not be alone in the universe…
In 1965, this
picture was taken
by Paul Villa near
the Volcano Mountains
in Canada, and it remains
one of the clearest UFO
images to date. Villa claims that
he has been taught telepathy by
aliens ever since he was a child and
that this photo shoot was previously
arranged with them for the purposes
of capturing their craft on ﬁlm. OK, Paul!
Is it a bird?
Is it a plane? No,
it’s two lampshadesreﬂected in a window! Thishoax picture of UFOs overthe Eiffel Tower in Paris, France,shows how easy it is to make a fake.Smudges on ﬁlm, model spacecraft onstring, and computer enhancement canall create convincing images.
Some
of
the
most
extraordinary
UFO photographs
have been taken by
pilots ﬂying
alone, at high
altitude. In 2000, British
pilot David Hastings took this
photograph from the
cockpit
during a ﬂight over the
Mojave
Desert in the
US southwest.
Worldﬁg
hterregularly
r
seeing
UFO
s du
Nicknam
ed
“foo
these un
explained
ba
the sky moved
suddenly
Critics dismissed them
as
bombs or secret
enem
y w
The United
States is the
ultimate hotspot
for UFOs. More
UFO sightings have
been recorded here than
anywhere else. This picture
of a UFO over Central Park in
New York City meets the criteria
of the classic UFO—it has a clear
geometrical shape and a shiny surface,
and appears to be hovering low
over the ground.
For more encounters of the alien kind, visit Who are the Men in Black? on pp. 48–49 and Ros
This photograph
was taken in New
Zealand in 1979 and
shows what seems to be
an illuminated spacecraft.
Amazingly, the photographer did
not see it until he processed the
camera ﬁlm. So, is it a UFO or just
a spot on the ﬁlm?
Aliensindisguise?
SomepeoplesaytheMenin
Blackarealienswhodisguise
themselvesashumanbeings.
Themakeoverisn’talwaysthat
convincing.HerbertHopkins
describedtheManinBlackwhovisitedhim
ashavingverypaleskin,lackingeyelashes
andeyebrows,andwearingbrightredlipstick!
WHOARETHEMENINBLACK?
Governmentagents?
Apopulartheoryisthat
theMeninBlackarereally
governmentagents.The
reasontheytargetalien
watchersisuncertain.Doesthe
USgovernmentwanttokeeppeopleinthedark
aboutaliens?Oraretheysimplyconcerned
thatthepublicwilldiscovermilitarysecrets?
Allinyourhead?
TheMeninBlackcouldjust
beﬁgmentsofpeople’s
imaginations,createdwhenin
adreamystateofmind,orwhen
underextremestress.Itcould
bethatthealienwitnessesareundergoing
somesortofmentalupheavalatthetimeof
theencounterandaremorepronetofantasy.
Fictionalfakes
TheideaofMeninBlackmay
beanelaboratehoaxbyan
AmericanUFOresearcher.Gray
Barkerpublishedbooksabout
alienencountersandoften
includedstoriesaboutMeninBlack.However,
oneofhiscolleaguesclaimsthatBarkeroften
presentedﬁctionaltalesasfactualaccounts.
DidhemakeuptheMeninBlacktales?
Mothman
In1966and1967,several
peopleinWestVirginia,USA,
claimedtheysawastrange
creaturethesizeofaman
witheyesinitschestandmoth
wings.Sincemysteriousmendressedinblack
hadalsobeenseeninthearea,somepeople
speculatedthattheywerelinked.
THETHEORIES
Target2
In1965,trafﬁcwardenRexHeﬂintook
threephotosofametallic-lookingdisc
intheskythathethoughtwasaﬂying
saucer.Heclaimshewasvisitedbymen
dressedinblacksuitswhoclaimedtobe
fromNORAD,theUSgovernmentagency
foraerospacedefence,whomadehim
handoverthesnaps.
Target3
DrHerbertHopkinswasvisitedbyaManinBlackin1976
afterhemaderesearchnotesabouttwoalienencounters.
Hopkinsclaimsthemanmadeacoindematerializeandthen
threatenedtomakeHopkins’sheartvanishinthesameway
ifhedidn’tdestroyallhisnotes.Yikes!
Target1
Onenightin1953,AlbertBender,a
leadingresearcherinﬂyingsaucersand
otherUFOs(unidentiﬁedﬂyingobjects),
wasvisitedbythreemenwearingdark
suits.Theyscaredhimsomuchhegave
upallhisworkonUFOs.
Analienencounterisafreakyexperience,butwhathappensaftercanbe
justasunsettling.Somewitnessesdescribevisitsfromshadowycharacters
dressedinsharpblacksuits,whodemandtheyziptheirlips.
JointheMeninBlack
Yourmissionistokeepthelidonalien
sightings.Wheneversomeoneclaims
tohaveseenanalienoraUFO,you
mustmoveinswiftlytokeepthem
quiet.Thetruthmustnotgetout!
Firstchooseyourcharacterand
selectyoursuper-slickvehicle.
Youhavechosen
AgentA.
Youwillwear:
acoolblacksuit
asharpwhite
shirtandblacktie
darkglasses
tohideyour
glowingeyes
Nowselectyour
transportation:
blacklimo
blackvan
blacktruck
blackhelicopter
ﬂyingsaucer
whitesedan
Movein!
Ihavehim.
Target
neutralized.
Government
agents!
Openup!
Youwillforget
weevenmet.
4849Whoelseiswatchingyou?FindoutinGlobaleavesdroppingonpp.22–23andEverydaysurveillanceonpp.56–57.WhoaretheMeninBlack?
Secondﬂoor,
bluedoor.
Now!
Formoreundercoverinvestigations,sneakapeakatSecretservicesonpp.64–65andPrivateeyeonpp.106–107.
EverydaysurveillanceYoumaythinkwhatyoudoisyourownbusiness,butyou’re
mistaken.Fromatriptothemalltologgingontoacomputer,
therearepeoplewatchingyoureverymove...Saycheese!
Caughtoncamera
Closed-circuittelevisions(CCTVs)are
positionedinalmosteverypublicplaceto
surveypeople’smovements.IntheUK,for
example,thereareﬁvemillionCCTVs,and
theaverageLondonerisﬁlmed300times
aday.Manyarehigh-qualitycamerasthat
canzoomintoﬁlmyouindetail,sostop
pickingyournose!
Onthecards
Whenapersonmakesapurchasewithan
electroniccard,suchasadebitorcreditcard,
theirbankknowswhathasbeenbought.Every
timemoneyiswithdrawnfromacashdispenser,
detailsarerecorded,sothereisatrailofwhere
thepersonhasbeenandhowmuchtheyhave
spent.Policeﬁndthishelpfulwhentracking
criminalsormissingpeople.
Webwatch
Whenanyonemakesanonlinepurchase,
thesellerkeepsarecord.Bytrackingthe
productsyoubuy,sellerscanbuildpersonal
proﬁlesandtargetyouwithoffers.Security
servicesaccesspurchasinginformationto
buildproﬁlesofpeopletheyaresuspicious
of.Theyalsowanttherighttoaccess
everyone’swebsearches.
Carspotting
Speedcamerascanautomaticallyrecorda
vehicle’sregistrationdetailsandlinkuptonational
computerstorevealifthevehicleisstolen.In
future,allcarsarelikelytobetrackedeverywhere
theygo,usingasatellitelink-upcalledGlobal
PositioningSystems(GPS).Thisinformation
canhelptracksuspectsandensuredriving
tollsarepaidincertainareas.
Callgiveaway
Yourcellphonegivesawaymorepersonal
informationthanyoumightthink.Cellphone
companiesareobligedtoprovidesecurity
serviceswithdetailsofwhoyoucalled,the
timeanddurationofthecall,andeven
whereyoucalledfrom.Thelatestphones
havetechnologythatallowsyourexact
locationtobepinpointedatanytime.
5657Everydaysurveillance

8.
Fuel tanks and engines
The four engines and the fuel tanks in the
wings are Air Force One’s most vulnerable
spots. The fuel tanks can hold more than
50,000 gallons (200,000 liters) of ﬂammable
fuel, so they are protected with infrared units
that can detect the heat of incoming bullets
or missiles and ﬁre ﬂares to intercept them.
Presidential suite
The president’s rooms are all
on the midlevel of the plane,
in the aircraft’s nose.
10 11 Air Force One
Hails to the chefs
Kitchen staff can prepare up to
100 meals at once in two large
galleys. The aircraft’s freezers
contain enough food to keep
passengers fed for up
to a week. If food runs
out, the plane lands and
stewards sneak out to local
grocery stores, selecting them
at random to avoid any chance of
the president’s food being poisoned.
Hand-picked pilots
Air Force One crew members are
very carefully selected. Each pilot has
a long and distinguished ﬂying career,
and is thoroughly checked to be sure
he poses no security risk.
The lowest level is the cargo
space. It also contains large
freezers, where food is stored
for up to 2,000 meals.
The upper level is the focus of
Air Force One’s highly sophisticated
electronics. The communications
center is here, with connections
for 87 telephones, dozens of
radios and computers, and 19 TVs.
The middle level is
the passenger area, with
galleys, the medical room,
and the president’s
personal suite.
President’s “me” time
The president has
his own personal suite
of rooms, including a
bedroom, gym, shower
room, and ofﬁce. US
presidents say they
have more privacy on
Air Force One than
when they are on
the ground.
We’ve got you covered…
Keeping the president safe is top priority. Dangers could
come from inside Air Force One as well as outside. Secret
service agents are hidden throughout the aircraft to seize
terrorists or would-be assassins should they manage to
sneak on board. Most agents hide near the president’s suite.
Ups and downs
Air Force One has its
own retractable stairs at the
front and rear, so it does not
have to rely on local airport
facilities, which could be
a security risk.

9.
Getting connected
On board, the sophisticated electronic communications
and defense systems mean the aircraft has twice the
amount of wiring of a standard jumbo—more than
175 miles (380 km) of it. The wiring is specially
encased to protect it from a damaging electromagnetic
pulse that would be sent out by a nuclear explosion.
You would expect the president of the US to travel in style. For longer journeys,
he takes to the skies in one of two specially adapted aircraft. When the head
honcho is on board, the aircraft is called Air Force One. Both planes look like
standard Boeing 747s on the outside. Inside is a staggering array of secret
technologies and a variety of luxury rooms to ensure the president
is kept safe and comfortable at all times. Welcome aboard!
Personnel and passengers
A standard jumbo jet can squeeze in more
than 400 passengers, as well as a large crew.
Air Force One carries 70 passengers at the
most, and has a crew of 26. Besides reporters,
the passengers include the president’s personal
staff and any VIPs invited aboard.
Can we quote you on that?
Aside from the president’s
staff and the ﬂight crew,
reporters are allowed to travel
on board so that the world
gets the news directly from the
source. Reporters travel in the
rear of the aircraft and have
their own phones and computer
terminals so that they can
send their news reports to
editors on the ground.
There are two identical Air Force One planes, SAM-28,000 and SAM-29,000.
Each one is 64 ft (19.4 m)—higher than a ﬁve-story building.
They have more than 4,000 sq ft (370 sq m) of cabin space.
Each one weighs a massive 400 tons (360 metric tons).
They can ﬂy at more than 600 mph (1,000 kph).
For more secrets in the skies, check out Watchers in space on pp. 24–25 and Stealth technology on pp. 130–131.
AIRCRAFT TYPE BOEING 747
AIR FORCE ONE
Defense systems
Air Force One is equipped with devices to provide
maximum protection. These are the aircraft’s most highly
guarded secrets, but we know they include “electronic
countermeasures” (ECMs), designed to jam enemy radar
so that the plane effectively becomes invisible.

10.
Different cultures have different traditions and etiquette. What’s
polite in one place may be offensive in another. When people from
different cultures meet and interact, there can be a lot of room for
misunderstanding. So, it’s worth doing a little research next time
you take a trip to
a foreign land.
12 13 Mind the gaffe!
or a “no”?
Submissive or shifty?
While in some African countries, looking
downward when speaking to someone
of a higher social status is considered
respectful; in other places it is seen as
a sign of dishonesty or shame.
Eyes down
Take a bow Put your hands together
and bow a bit
Shake on it
Nice to meet you
There are many different ways that
the people of the world greet each
other. A mutual bow from the waist,
with the back held straight and hands
by the side, is the respectful and
courteous greeting in Japan, while in
Thailand, the junior person approaches
the senior, puts both hands together
and gives a little bow. In the UK and
US, a ﬁrm, right-handed hand shake
is the most comfortable, formal way
to greet somebody, and in France, a
sequence of cheek-kisses, starting
with the left cheek, is de rigeuer.
Is that a “yes”…
Use your head
If you nod your head in Greece or
Bulgaria, it means “no,” and shaking your
head means “yes.” It means the opposite
in most other places, so, don’t say “yes”
when you mean “no.”

11.
For more interesting facts about the ways we interact, check out Strange vibrations on pp. 108–109 and Body language on pp. 186–187.
Opening presents
Give and take
The etiquette surrounding
the giving and receiving of gifts
differs between cultures. In many
places, it is considered rude to
accept an invitation and then show
up empty-handed. When receiving
a gift in Japan and Colombia, it is
considered rude to open the gift
in front of the giver.
Go on, open it
Present sense
In some parts of the world people
are offended if the receiver doesn’t
open the gift in front of them. So,
if you’re a stranger in a strange
land, check out the custom before
you check in at a party.
There she blows
Picking nose
Nose blowing nos
Instead of snifﬂing and suffering
with a runny nose in public, it is
generally preferable in most places
for people to blow their noses and
spare those around them from
irritating snifﬂing sounds. However,
in other places, such as Japan, it is
considered rude and impertinent to
blow your nose in public, whether you
have the snifﬂes or not.
Nose picking
While blowing your nose in Japan
is a national faux pas, picking your
nose in public is socially acceptable.
By contrast, many other countries
consider picking one’s nose as
a disgusting and embarrassing habit
that should be restricted to the
privacy of a person’s home, if at all!
Pointing the ﬁnger
Just follow my thumb…
Point of thumb
In Indonesia, pointing with the
ﬁnger is considered rude, no
matter whether giving directions
or not. Instead, a closed ﬁst held
sideways is the preferred pointing
method, with the thumb at the top
(as shown here) pointing in the
appropriate direction.
And the point is?
Pointing at people is considered rude
in many places, and can be especially
disrespectful if the person is pointing
with purpose, so don’t point to make
a point! However, it is generally
acceptable to point using your
ﬁnger when giving directions.
Compliments to the chef
Instead of shooting disapproving
glances at the person who allowed
that burp to slip out after eating,
some cultures view a big belch as
a compliment to the food. In Canada,
for example, the Inuit people interpret
a burp as “thank you, your food
was excellent.”
Flip side of the coin
While disregarded coin “shrapnel”
on the pavement is normal in many
countries, the act of stepping over, or
standing on, bills or coins in Thailand
is considered severely disrespectful to
their highly revered king, whose face
is on every coin and note.
A royal no no
Bring on the burp

12.
14 15 Leaks and moles
Sometimes secrets get out. Disgruntled
employees can reveal shady dealings in
corporations and governments to the
press. Professional spies can inﬁltrate
organizations and unearth conﬁdential
information. Let’s snoop around the
murky, double-crossing world of
undercover espionage.

13.
For other spy stories, go to Everyday surveillance on pp. 56–57 and Secret services on pp. 64–65.
Whistleblowers
When an employee discovers the company they work for is up to no
good they may “blow the whistle” and reveal all to the press. In 1994,
for example, American Jeff Wigand revealed that tobacco companies
knew that cigarettes are addictive and include cancer-causing additives
long before it became public knowledge.
Another famous whistleblower was Ingvar Bratt. In the 1980s, Bratt
released details of how Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi accepted
payments from Bratt’s employer, Swedish gunmakers Bofors, in
return for a government contract.
Leaks
Sometimes secret information is released without authorization
and without saying who let the secret out. In 1972, US president
Richard Nixon’s involvement in the illegal break-in at the Democratic
Party’s election headquarters in the Watergate ofﬁce building was
leaked to journalists by Mark Felt (who worked for the FBI—the US
federal investigation agency—and went by the codename Deep Throat).
Websites with special security features are being developed for
people to leak secret and sensitive documents from governments
and organizations without getting caught. Some conspiracy theorists,
however, think the sites could actually be fronts for government
intelligence agencies.
Off-the-record
When politicians tell journalists something “off-the-record,” they do not
want to be quoted. Sometimes the politicians are simply being friendly.
More often, the idea is to inﬂuence the way journalists present things
without the public knowing they are doing it. Off-the-record brieﬁngs
happen all the time, but they only come to light when something goes
wrong and the politician’s name gets out.
Spin
Sometimes information and news stories are released at a particular
time or in such a way that they inﬂuence the way the public reacts to
things. This is called spin. The name comes from how a pitcher can
give a ball spin so that it curves through the air in a way that confuses
the batter. Government press ofﬁcers are often criticized for using spin,
and the most notorious practitioners are called “spin doctors.” In some
countries, the media is state-controlled and spins the news by reporting
only stories that are favorable to the government.
Spyfiles
Moles
A mole is a spy who “burrows” his or her way into an enemy
country’s spy network or government to get secrets. A famous case
took place at the height of the Cold War (a period during the 20th
century when relations between the US and western Europe and the
communist countries of Russia and eastern Europe were particularly
frosty). In 1965, Karel Koecher pretended to defect from (leave)
communist Czechoslovakia to live in the US. A few years later he
joined the CIA (US foreign intelligence agency) and started feeding
back spy secrets to the Russian equivalent, the KGB. Koecher got
away with it for almost 20 years until he was found out.
Double agents
Spies who work for one country’s secret service while really working
for an enemy in secret are known as double agents. In the 1930s,
British student Guy Burgess was secretly recruited by the KGB while
studying at Cambridge University. He then joined MI5, the British
secret service, and passed on secrets to the KGB.
Sleepers
Sleeper agents enter a foreign country and try to blend in as
ordinary people. At ﬁrst they undertake no spying activities, but
ﬁnd jobs that will prove useful to them in the future. When the
time is right—sometimes many years later—they are “activated”
and begin their espionage activities.
Günter Guillaume was a sleeper agent for communist East Germany
during the Cold War. He was sent to West Germany in 1956, where
he got a job working for one of the political parties. He eventually
became a close aide of the leader of West Germany, Chancellor Willy
Brandt, and was able to send back top-secret information to the East
German secret service. Guillaume’s activities were uncovered in 1974.
He was imprisoned, and Chancellor Brandt was forced to resign
because of the scandal.
Undercover
Police and intelligence agencies often go undercover to inﬁltrate
criminal gangs. The ofﬁcers assume new identities, complete with
fake ID documents and background stories. To keep their cover,
they must sometimes take part in criminal activities themselves.
π
pμ
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†
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§

14.
There are 13 steps on
the pyramid, to represent
the 13 original
American colonies.
Some people believe the words,
“Novus Ordo Seclorum”
(“New Order of the Ages”) link
the dollar with the Illuminati—
a secret cult believed by
some to control
world events.
The unﬁnished
pyramid may
symbolize that
the US is
still far from
ﬁnished.An average one-dollar
bill is in circulation for
about 22 months.
There are 293 coin
combinations to
change a dollar bill.
The “$” symbol
probably evolved from
the letters representing
the American
nation: US.
The spooky, all-seeing eye
on top of the pyramid
has inspired all kinds of
conspiracy theories, because
it looks like a symbol used
by the Freemasons
Secret Society.
The date on the base
of the pyramid is 1776 in
Roman numerals—that’s the
year the US became
an independent nation.
The almighty dollar16 17

15.
The eagle holds an olive
branch and arrows in its
claws. Its head points toward
the olive branch to show
a desire for peace, but if
things go wrong, there are
always the arrows…
The number 13 pops up all over the place: 13 stars above
the eagle, 13 letters in two of the Latin phrases, 13 vertical bars
on the shield, 13 stripes at the top of the shield, 13 leaves on
the olive branch, 13 olives, and 13 arrows.
The shield in front
of the eagle is not
supported, to represent
the idea that the
country can stand
on its own.
Clutched in the eagle’s
beak is a ribbon that reads,
“E Pluribus Unum”
(“From many, one”).
It may be the most widely
circulated currency in the
world, but look a little
closer… What does all that
stuff mean, anyway?
The Latin phrase
“Annuit Coeptis”
above the pyramid
translates as, “God
has favored our
undertaking.”
How many American
icons are hidden on
this spoof dollar bill?
For more curious codes, see Bar codes on pp. 58–59 and Secret writing on pp. 110–111.
any Ame
dde
dol

16.
FLAGITUP
Every country has a national
ﬂag, each with a unique
design. Often, the colors
and symbols on a ﬂag are
signiﬁcant. Flag experts,
known as vexillologists,
research the hidden
meanings and stories
behind the iconic banners.
Ireland
There is no ofﬁcial story to
the meaning of the colors
on the Irish ﬂag, but many
believe the green stripe
symbolizes the Catholics
of Ireland and the orange
stripe the Protestants
who fought for William
of Orange in the 1600s.
The ﬂag may have been
an attempt to reconcile
these two sides.
Australia
The ﬁve small stars are
the Southern Cross, the
brightest constellation
visible from Australia. The seven-pointed
star is the Federation Star. This has one
point for each of the six states, and a
seventh for Australia’s other territories.
Canada
The red
represents
the red cross
of England’s patron saint and the
white comes from the French royal
emblem, reﬂecting the country’s
English and French heritage. In
the center is a leaf of Canada’s
national tree, the maple.
China
When the
Communist
Party seized
control of China in 1949,
a competition took place
to design a new ﬂag. In the
winning design, the red
symbolizes the revolution,
the large star represents the
Communist Party, and the small
stars are the Chinese people.
Switzerland
The white cross on the
red base of the square-
shaped Swiss ﬂag represents
Christianity. The Red Cross humanitarian
organization reversed the colors to create
the Red Cross ﬂag in honor of
its Swiss founder, Henri Dunant.
Spain
The four shields in the center of
the Spanish ﬂag commemorate
the four ancient kingdoms
of Spain—Castile (the castle), Léon (the lion),
Aragon (stripes), and Navarre (chains).
India
The saffron (orange) color on
the Indian ﬂag stands for
spirituality, white for peace,
green for fertility, and the wheel for change.
18 19 Flag it up
USA
The 50 stars on
the ﬂag are for
the 50 US states
and the 13 stripes are for
the 13 colonies that formed
the original United States.

17.
Denmark
According to legend,
the Danish ﬂag (the
“Dannebrog”) fell from
the sky during a battle
with the Estonian
army in 1219, helping
the Danes to victory.
Vexillologists, however,
believe the ﬂag was
derived from the battle
banners of crusaders
(Christian warriors).
Japan
The big red circle in
the middle represents
the rising Sun. This is
to symbolize the emperors
of Japan who were regarded as
descendants of the Sun goddess Amaterasu.
Sweden
The cross of the Swedish ﬂag may just
be a variation on the Danish ﬂag, but
according to one legend, 12th-century
Swedish king Eric the Holy saw a yellow cross in the
blue sky and made this the design for his ﬂag.
Rwanda
Rwanda introduced
a new ﬂag in 2002.
The green symbolizes
hopes of prosperity; yellow stands for
economic development; blue is for peace; and
the Sun represents light and enlightenment.
Germany
The black, red, and gold on the German ﬂag can be traced
back to the uniform of soldiers in the early 1800s. The
soldiers wore black coats with red braid and gold buttons.
Italy
The green
in the ﬂag
is said
to represent the land; the
white is the Alps; and
the red is blood spilled
in Italy’s wars.
Norway
Norway became an
independent nation in
1814. The cross comes
from the ﬂags of Sweden and Denmark with
which it had been united. The red, white,
and blue were inspired by the colors of the
French Revolution, and symbolized liberty.
United Kingdom
The UK ﬂag dates from 1606,
three years after Scotland and
England were united as a single
kingdom. The ﬂag combines the red and white cross
of England’s patron saint, George, and the blue and
white cross of Scotland’s patron saint, Andrew.
Greece
Some say the
nine stripes on
the Greek ﬂag
represent the muses (goddesses
of art) in Greek mythology. The
color blue may represent the sea.
Want to quench your curiosity about countries of the world? Go to Mind the gaffe! on pp. 12–13 and Law tour on pp. 206–207.

18.
12
10
11
7
8
6
5
4
2
1
9
20 21
3
4
1
2
5
3
6
7
8
9
Cheyenne Mountain
Deep inside a mountain in Colorado, in a huge cavern blasted out
of solid granite, is a secret military base. On the surface it looks
just like any other tree-covered mountain, but get past the security
guards and you will ﬁnd your way into an entire underground
city. Although the base is no longer a major command center,
the military personnel once stationed here constantly monitored
potential threats to the United States. It was always staffed with
ﬁve crews of 40 people, but could accommodate 800 people in the
event of an attack. Let’s take a tour of the base in its heyday.
The tunnel entrance is the only sign of what lies
hidden underground.
Deep into the mountain, a huge pair of 3-ft- (1-m-)
thick steel doors protect the complex from a nuclear
blast. Each door weighs 24 tons (22 metric tons).
The buildings ﬂoat on 1,319 strong steel springs
that can soak up the vibration from a nuclear
explosion by squeezing or stretching more than
1 ft (30 cm) in length.
The Missile Warning Center (MWC) is at the
heart of America’s defense against nuclear attack,
detecting missiles launched anywhere in the world.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command
(NORAD) scans the skies night and day for
threats, including terrorist planes and spacecraft.
The Space Defense Operations Center (SPADOC)
keeps tabs on every single one of more than
8,500 objects orbiting the Earth in space, from
space stations to loose bolts.
The Combined Intelligence Watch Center (CIWC)
looks for any potential danger to the United States
around the world, from any source.
The National Warning Facility monitors the country
for signs of civil unrest and protest movements.
Metal walls on the chambers and buildings shield
the complex from the electromagnetic pulse of
a nuclear explosion.
Cheyenne Mountain

19.
17
16
15
20
21
22
23
14
18
19
18
17
21
20
19
16
15
13
11
10
12
There’s a dentist to ensure everyone
smiles in the face of danger.
A hairdresser and barber means staff
can always look neat and tidy for work.
The pharmacy stocks a vast range of
medication—from headache medicine
to lifesaving drugs.
The hospital has a fully functional
operating room in case of an emergency.
A church means that staff can perform
religious duties and doubles up as a
place to rest.
There are two gyms to help staff keep ﬁt.
A sauna offers somewhere for staff to
relax, particularly after a visit to the gym.
The kitchen has a huge food supply,
much of it frozen, to guarantee meals
for months.
The restaurant serves food daily and
is the only place in the base to eat.
In the event of a big explosion at
the surface, blast valves, built in
to all the pipes to the outside, can
detect pressure waves and snap shut
instantly, sealing off the complex from
damage or contamination.
The weather center watches the
weather, using data fed in from
satellites and weather stations.
The air intakes have sophisticated
ﬁlters to remove germs and
dangerous radiation and chemicals.
During peacetime, electricity is fed
into Cheyenne Mountain from local
power plants. In emergencies six
big 1,750 kilowatt, diesel-powered
generators kick in.
Water is stored in four huge
underground pools, each holding up
to 1.8 million gallons (6.8 million
liters). It is patrolled constantly
by the world’s smallest ﬂeet—a
single rowboat.
Want to check out some nore amazing complexes? Look at Kremlin on pp. 66–67, Vatican on pp. 88–89, and Forbidden City on pp. 204–205.
14
22
23
13

20.
You might think that the phone calls you make or the emails you send to your friends are private.
In fact, someone is listening in all the time. Organizations, such as the American National
Security Agency (NSA), continually eavesdrop on phone calls and emails. The NSA is
sometimes jokingly called “No Such Agency” because its existence was long denied.
Using a program called Echelon, this eavesdropping agency monitors electronic
communications. The goal is probably to listen for terrorists and terrorist networks,
but no one really knows. Here’s how they do it.
Telephone cables
The cables that carried phone calls under
the sea used to be made of copper wires.
Eavesdroppers could listen in by sending
divers down to wrap electric coils around the
wire. This enabled listeners to hear the phone
signals which “leaked” out from the copper.
Today the cables are ﬁber optics, which are
completely untappable... or are they?
Global eavesdropping2322
Email exchanges
When you send an email, the electronic signal carrying
the email goes to your Internet Service Provider
(ISP). From there it is sent via an Internet Exchange
Point (IXP) to your friend’s ISP, and then on to your
friend. To intercept your email without you knowing,
the eavesdropper simply taps into the IXP. The NSA’s
computers also continually search through every website
on the internet in order to locate anything suspicious.
Mobile signals
When you call someone on your cell
phone, microwave signals travel through
the air to an antenna, from where they
are relayed through other antennae until
they reach the cell of the person you are
calling. All an eavesdropper has to do is
intercept the microwave signal
as it travels between antennae.

21.
Satellites
Communications satellites allow
telephone calls and television
broadcasts to be bounced around
the world almost instantly. But these
communications can be intercepted
from ground stations, which are often
set up right next to the dishes that
are sending the signals. Sometimes,
the ground stations have intriguing
codenames, such as the American
NSA’s “Moonpenny,” which is located
at Menwith Hill in Yorkshire, England,
and intercepts all telecommunications
between the UK and Europe.
Tapping telephones
It is illegal to tap telephone
calls in many countries, but
eavesdroppers tap them
anyway by connecting to
major telephone exchanges.
With the Echelon system,
the security services are
not listening in on particular
people; they are listening
to all calls, then homing in
on people when they hear
something suspicious.
Voice recognition
There are too many telephone
calls for spies to listen to every call,
so computers are used to scan
millions every second. Some work
by “voice recognition,” in which
the computer analyzes voices on
the phone to detect a particular
“wanted” voice.
Data mining
Computers can be programmed
to scan emails and look for
suspicious words. In the
1990s, the Echelon program
searched for the words
“Greenpeace” and “Amnesty
International.” It caused a scandal.
Tracing
Computers are used to trace
the phone calls and emails
of anybody considered to be
suspicious. The computers also
look for any “links” with other
people who have been in touch
with the suspect.
Secretive communications are explored in Leaks and moles on pp. 14–15 and Watchers in space on pp. 24–25.

22.
Watchers in
Space
Soon, spy satellites will be
able to
continuously track
the movement of something
as small as a mouse from
high
up
in
space.
Satellites can chart the meanderings
of the Gulf Stream and other currents
affecting the weather and climate.NASA’sAqua
satellite
can
detect
m
oisture
in
soiland,asa
result,inform
farm
erswhen
cropsneed
watering
or
when
the
soilisready
forplanting.
The TOPEX/Poseidon satellite can measure miniscule
variations in the depth of the oceans. This amazing level
of accuracy was used to reveal hidden mountains on
the seabed. Using this technology, scientists could
create a complete map of the ocean ﬂoor.
Satellites in space are too small
and high for you to see them,
but they can see you—and it
is amazing what they can
reveal. From the invisible
movement of disease
across a ﬁeld of crops
to your boots being
moved to a different
place on your doorstep,
satellites can spot it.
Spy satellites
The most secret
satellites are military
surveillance satellites, such
as the American Keyhole satellites
and Lacrosse/Onyx satellites.
These satellites keep track of army
movements and terrorist activity.
They can receive signals from secret
agents’ transmitters and even send
coded messages.
Early warning satellites use infrared sensors
to detect a nuclear missile’s hot exhaust just
seconds after it is launched.
Listening
devicesallow
satellitesto
pick
up
anysignaltraveling
through
the
airon
the
ground,such
asa
radio
message
ora
cellphone
call.
Satellite images can be used to search for petroleum
deposits, to plot ancient stream
beds in the desert,
to identify earthquake-prone areas, and to search
for shipwrecks on the ocean ﬂoor.
Satellitescantracklarge
ﬁres,wildlifetaggedwithradio
transmitters,glaciersbreakinginto
icebergs,andchangesinthesize
oftheholeintheozonelayer.
Watchers in space24 25
Earth watch
It’s not just spy satellites
that reveal extraordinary things.
Satellites can identify whether a ﬁeld
is planted with wheat, oats, cotton, or
corn by reading each crop’s “spectral
signature”—the wavelength of light
each type of plant reﬂects back into the
atmosphere. Satellites can also warn of the
spread of disease or pests attacking the ﬁelds.

23.
The
three
US
PARCAE
satellites can
track
the
position,
speed, and
direction
of any
ship
anywhere
in
the
world.
They
do
this by
picking
up
on
the
signals each
ship
gives
off, including
radio
and
navigation
signals. M
issiles ﬁred
from
the
other side
of the
world
can
also
be
guided
to
their targets by
these
satellites.
Satellite pictures help us gauge how human
activities are affecting the planet by documenting
the destruction of rainforests, monitoring water
temperatures in the ocean, and measuring
the warming of Earth’s atmosphere.
Satellites use a special kind of radar called
Synthetic Aperture Radar to enable them
to take detailed pictures through clouds
and at night.
Thermal imaging cameras on board satellites can detect
heat sources—whether it is the warm body of a person
hiding inside a hut, or the small amount of heat emanating
from a camouﬂaged target or underground bunker.Satellites reveal geology and land forms, as well as where oil
or minerals may be. Copper, nickel, zinc, and uranium deposits
have been found in the United States in this way. Satellites
have also revealed tin in Brazil and copper in Mexico.
Americanspysatellitesarecontrolled
bytheELectronicINTelligence
(ELINT)system,whichismonitored
byalittle-knowngovernment
agencycalledtheNGA(National
Geospatial-IntelligenceAgency).
W
eathersatellites
record
cloud
patterns
and
m
ovem
ents,which
can
help
predictstorm
s.
They
also
m
easure
tem
perature,atm
ospheric
m
oisture,airpressure,rainfall,and
snowfall.
ThelatestUSIkon/Keyholespysatellitescanphotograph
thesmallestarea.Somehavecamerasthatcanreadtiny
details,suchasabookcoveroracar’slicenseplate.
ThepullofgravityvariesslightlyoverEarth.TheGRACEsatellitecandetectthesevariationswithastonishingaccuracy,revealingalotaboutEarth’soceansandhiddeninterior.Forinstance,itcouldtrackthemovementofmoltenrockfarbelowthe
water’ssurface.
Want to know more about who might be watching you? Take a look at Global eavesdropping on pp. 22–23 and Everyday surveillance on pp. 56–57.

24.
Found!
In 1999, the wreck of
a 15th-century Chinese
treasure ship carrying
porcelain was found just
off the coast of Brunei in
the South China Sea.
Found!
In 1987, high-tech robots
found the wreck of the
gold-ﬁlled steamer
SS Central America,
which went down
in a hurricane off
Florida in 1857.
26 27 Lost treasures

25.
William Kidd: Upon hearing that he was about
to be brought to trial in 1698, the notorious pirate
Captain Kidd is said to have buried the treasure from
his greatest prize, the Quedagh Merchant ship, which
was laden with silks and rubies from India.
From death’s cruel head, step 11 squares E,
then 10 N
King John: When King John was traveling across
England in 1215, his treasure wagons were taken
on a short cut across the marshes, but were cut off
by the tide, never to be seen again.
Drink a royal health, then go 8 squares NW
and 11 SW
Henry Morgan: In 1671, the infamous pirate Henry
Morgan attacked Panama City and looted treasure,
which he is believed to have hidden in a cave deep
underwater, guarded by sharks and barracuda.
A Jamaica spirit will lead you 6 N and 6 E
Moctecuma: Legend has it that when the Spanish
conquistadors were driven from the Aztec city of
Tenochtitlan in 1520, the Aztec ruler Moctezuma
was killed, perhaps by his own people. The Aztecs
then gathered all his treasure and hid it safely away.
Fired from the iron-ball spitter 5 S and 4 NW
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: When these
infamous robbers raided the bank in Winnemuca, Nevada,
in 1900, and stole $32,000 worth of gold coins, they
vowed it would be their last robbery. Legend has it that
they buried the loot before ﬂeeing to South America.
Look sharp and long 3 N and 4 W
Yamashita: Japanese General Yamashita looted and
stashed away $200-billion worth of jewels and gold
from China and southeast Asia during World War II
(1939–45). Before he could recover the treasure, he
was tried and executed as a war criminal in 1946.
A case of oak takes you18 squares E
Blackbeard: In 1812, British captain Blackbeard (not
the pirate) recovered a vast treasure from a Spanish
galleon, wrecked near the Bahamas. On the sea he
was in danger from both French warships and pirates,
so he trekked across land until it all became too much
and he buried the treasure.
Hold your ship fast here, then go 12 W and 4 S
Found!
In 2005, it was
announced that 600
barrels of Spanish gold
had been found buried on
Robinson Crusoe Island
(Juan Fernandez Is)
435 miles (700 km)
west of Chile.
Lost treasures
Like looking for lost things? Then have a look at Lost tribes on and Bermuda Triangle on .
Found!
In 2000, the wreck
of pirate Black Sam
Bellamy’s ship, the Whydah,
was found off Cape Cod,
Massachusetts. In 1996,
pirate Blackbeard’s ship,
the Queen Anne’s Revenge,
was found near Beaufort,
North Carolina.
See if you can discover where they are...

28.
Who crossed the Atlantic ﬁrst?30 31
WHO CROSSED THE
Atlantic ﬁrst?
Kennewick Man
The bones of a man
who lived 9,000 years
ago were unearthed in
Kennewick, Washington,
on the banks of the
Columbia River. No one
knows where Kennewick
Man came from, but a
reconstruction of his face
revealed that he looked
more like modern-day
Europeans than Native
Americans. Was he the ﬁrst
to cross the Atlantic Ocean?
FINISH
Racing line-up:
Here are the contestants in
the transatlantic race, set out
in the order they are thought
to have arrived in. While
there is decisive evidence
that the Vikings, for instance,
did cross the Atlantic, some
stories are probably little
more than myths.
4. Irish saint
Documents from the
9th century claim that Irish
saint Brendon crossed the
Atlantic in the 5th century
in a leather boat. A replica
boat built in 1977 proved
it was possible.
3. Ancient Romans
A Roman ceramic was found
near Mexico City, Mexico,
and Roman coins have been
unearthed in Indiana and Ohio.
The artifacts were most likely
brought to America long after
ancient Roman times.
2. Ancient Jews
A 2,000-year-old stone dug
up at Bat Creek, Tennessee,
has writing on it that could
be Hebrew. Some say this
shows Jews reached North
America thousands
of years ago. Unlikely.
1. Prehistoric French
Similarities in stone tools
and DNA suggest that
French cavemen crossed the
Atlantic more than 15,000
years ago. They may have
traveled in canoes along the
edge of the Arctic ice sheet.
Most people think that Christopher Columbus was ﬁrst to cross the
Atlantic, reaching America in 1492. However, Vikings made the crossing
500 years before Columbus, and some historians think other brave
sailors did, too. Most of these early contestants in the transatlantic
race sailed farther north than Columbus. The weather is colder and
stormier here, but the journey is shorter, and they could stop off
at islands, such as Iceland and Greenland on the way.

29.
Mystery map
A map was discovered in 1957 that appeared to date from the
15th century. It shows a land across the Atlantic called Vinland
and details how it was visited in the 11th century by Vikings. Many
experts say the map is a fake. Archeologists have, however, found
remains of Viking settlements in Newfoundland, Canada, which
show they deﬁnitely reached North America in the 10th century.
For more maritime mysteries go to Lost treasures on pp. 26–27, Mary Celeste on pp. 44–45, and Atlantis on pp. 212–213.
9. German explorer
In 1473, a German sea
captain called Didrik Pining
was sent by the Danish king
to lead an expedition to
discover a northern route to
Asia. It seems he may have
reached Labrador, Canada.
8. Portuguese cod-ﬁnder
Portuguese sailor Joao Vaz
Corte-Real was given the
title “Discoverer of the Land
of Codﬁsh” in the 1472.
Newfoundland is famous
for its cod, so he may have
reached the Canadian coast.
7. English ﬁshers
English ﬁshermen may have
been ﬁshing off the coast
of New England earlier than
1485. Explorer Christopher
Columbus may have heard
of the existence of
America from them.
6. Welsh prince
According to Welsh legend,
Prince Madoc sailed to
America in 1170, and 120
members of his crew settled
there. There was a theory that
one Native American tribal
language is partly Welsh.
5. Viking Vinland
A Viking saga (story) told
how Leif Ericson reached
a land he called Vinland.
Archeological evidence in
Newfoundland, Canada,
shows Vikings did cross
the Atlantic Ocean.

30.
Stretching across Peru’s Nazca
desert are gigantic drawings, or
geoglyphs, only visible from the sky.
Known as the “Nazca Lines,” they
were rediscovered in the 1920s
when aircraft ﬂew over the area.
We now know that they were created
by the ancient Nazca people, between
200 BCE and 700 CE, by taking away
strips of the dark oxide-coated
pebbles that litter the desert to reveal
the light dirt beneath. The mystery is,
why did they do it?
Runway
Length 180 ft (55 m)
Long bands like this fan out across the desert
in a pattern that looks like the runways of a modern
airport. Hardly surprising, then, that some people
came up with the theory that aliens visited the area
long ago, and built these long strips as landing
areas for their spaceships!
Monkey
Length 180 ft (55 m)
The Nazca people
didn’t worry about
accuracy in their
drawings of animals.
The Monkey has three
toes on each foot,
four ﬁngers on one
hand, and ﬁve on
the other. As a result,
some historians wonder
whether the numbers
had a special meaning.
Nazca Lines32 33

31.
THEORIES
No one really knows why the Nazca people made
these lines. Some believe that they acted like a giant
map to locate underground water sources, and that
the pictures were ﬁgures of gods, or names given
to the water sources. Many experts believe that they
were actually walking temples—lines along which
the Nazca walked, led by a priestlike ﬁgure, in a
pattern dedicated to a particular god. There is also
the theory that the lines are simply pictures intended
for the gods to look down on. Or they could point
to places on the horizon where the Sun and stars
rise and set. Perhaps the Nazca actually ﬂew up
in primitive hot-air balloons to see their pictures.
Maybe the truth is up there…
Pelican
Length 935 ft (285 m)
The Pelican is the largest
of the geoglyphs created
by the Nazca people.
At ﬁrst, people could not
believe that the Nazca could
draw a picture so big, but,
in the 1980s, archeologists
showed it was possible with
a small team and simple
surveying equipment.
Spaceman
Length 105 ft (32 m)
The Nazca geoglyphs
include humanoid ﬁgures.
The most famous is
the one shown here,
nicknamed the Spaceman,
discovered in 1982.
Others include ET,
the Man with the Hat,
and the Executioner.
Archeologists started
excavating a buried city in
the 1980s at Cahuachi, just
south of the Nazca Lines.
Along with mummiﬁed
remains of the Nazca
people, pottery has been
unearthed that has patterns
painted on it, identical to
the Nazca Lines themselves.
Signs of an ancient weaving
technique for making
such patterns were also
discovered, which could
have been used to plan
the Nazca Lines.
LOSTCITY
For more tales of lost cultures, visit Lost tribes on pp. 36–39 and Ancient pyramids on pp. 118–119.

32.
hidden
gold
More than a quarter of the world’s gold is stashed away in just
a single bank vault 80 ft (24 m) below the streets of New York
City, USA, inside the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY).
Countries buy and sell billions of dollars worth of gold in secret,
simply by shifting it around the vault.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York contains more
than 8,000 tons (7,250 metric tons) of gold. The exact
amount is not known because some countries do not
release details of how much gold they have.
Most of the gold in the FRBNY is in the form of bricklike
bars. Each is worth at least $160,000, weighing
400 troy ounces (27 lb/12.4 kg). A troy ounce is a
unit of weight used for measuring precious metals.
Countries put their gold in the FRBNY because it
allows them to trade gold very easily—without the
risk of transporting it across the world.
When one country wants to sell its gold to another
country, it simply asks the FRBNY to shift the right
number of gold bricks from its store to the store of
the other country. That way no one has to worry
about moving gold around the world. It’s simply
shufﬂed around the FRBNY vault.
Every time a gold bar is brought into the vault, it is weighed
and checked by bank ofﬁcials to ensure it is pure gold.
The largest single compartment in the bank contains
107,000 gold bars. You can’t tell which country it belongs
to, since every country’s vault is identiﬁed only by a secret
code number.
34 35 Hidden gold
NEW YORK’S GOLDEN SECRET
In addition to the bricks, there are tiny bars of gold made
from the leftovers from each casting. These are
nicknamed “Hershey bars” because they look like the
bars of chocolate produced by US confectioner Hershey.
The gold in the FRBNY is owned by 122 countries.
Each country has its own gold store in the vault, in
which bars of gold are piled up in overlapping layers
like brick walls.
Bank ofﬁcials enter the vault through a door in a narrow
passage in a giant 100-ton (90-metric ton) steel cylinder,
which rotates to block off the passage and seal the vault.
No one person knows all the combinations for the eight
bolts that secure the cylinder. Eight people have to be
present to add the code they know in order to open it.

33.
NOTEWORTHY CHANGE
In the past, gold was widely used as money. Over time,
people began to put their gold in banks for safekeeping. In
return, the bank gave them paper receipts that said the bank
“promise to pay” back their gold should they ever want it.
Soon people began to buy things with these receipts, instead
of actual gold, and they became the ﬁrst bank notes. Even
today, since bank notes are actually worthless paper, they are
simply a “promise to pay.”
MONEYMAKING
Since bank notes were just receipts for gold in the bank,
the value of notes in circulation matched the amount
of gold in the banks. For economies to grow, more
money needs to be in circulation. So banks simply print
more bank notes—regardless how much gold they
actually have in reserve. This is called “fractional reserve
banking,” because the gold reserve is just a fraction of
the value of the notes in circulation. It’s a neat way for
banks to literally make money. Minted!
BREAKING THE BANK
Fractional reserve banking works ﬁne as long as all the
people with bank notes don’t actually ask for their gold.
But in troubled times, such as war, they sometimes did.
Then the bank would go bust because it didn’t have
enough gold to pay everyone. To stop people from losing
out when banks collapsed, governments set up central
banks. The central bank holds most of the country’s
reserves of gold, and issues bank notes. The US Federal
Reserve Bank and the Bank of England are central banks
like these.
SPEND, SPEND, SPEND
In the last century, economic depression and world wars
encouraged governments to print more money to spend
their way out of trouble. It seemed to work, regardless of
how much gold they actually had in reserve. So in 1971
the world’s governments decided to get rid of the gold
standard. Now governments can print as much money as
they want. They still keep some gold in reserve, but it’s only
a small proportion of the amount of money in circulation.
THE GOLD STANDARD
When banks print money regardless of how much money
they have in reserve, you can’t be sure how much gold the
bills actually buy. This is a problem when you want to pay
for things in another country where they have different
currency. So, in the 1800s, governments in countries
such as Britain and the US set up a “gold standard.” This
ensured a pound or a dollar would always be worth a
particular amount of gold.
A MATTER OF INTEREST
The amount of money in circulation today depends not on
gold reserves, but entirely on the heads of each country’s
central bank, who meet regularly in secret. They decide
how much money is worth in their country by setting the
percentage of interest to be paid on bank loans. In this
way, they have a profound effect on how well-off we all are.
Want to know more about what’s going on underground? Go to Cheyenne Mountain on pp. 20–21 and Paris underground on pp. 208–209.

34.
The Awa Guaja live
on the remote sierra of
northeast Brazil, where
the men hunt using bows
and arrows, and the women
harvest bananas and wild
berries. They are always
naked, and are known for
smiling a lot!
The Naua people of
northwest Brazil’s rain
forests were thought to
have died out in the 1920s,
but they were just living in
secret. In 2000, about 250
Naua people were spotted.
Some were working as
rubber tappers, gathering
latex from rubber trees.
The Yanomami are found
on the border between
Brazil and Venezuela. They
live together in huge round
huts called yanos, and
grow plants for food and
medicine in “gardens” in
the forest. They hold huge
tug-of-war games that
last for hours.
The Zo’e or People
of the Moon live in
unexplored rain forests
in northern Brazil, where
they hunt monkeys. Their
bottom lips are pierced
by a wooden plug called
a poturu, and they smear
their bodies in the red dye
of the urucum fruit.
Threats
The modern world poses many dangers for the people
living in the rain forests. The threats take many forms—
some attack the tribes’ forest homes, and others affect
the tribes directly.
Bulldozers, ﬁre, and chainsaws: These are the
weapons of the developers who strip away the
forest to make way for farmland, towns, and roads.
Ranchers: Sometimes ranchers take over tribes’
hunting lands to grow soybeans and raise cattle.
Loggers: These are the men who cut down the
forest trees for their wood.
Gold hunters: The discovery of gold in some forest
areas has attracted gold seekers, who chop down large
areas of forest to make way for mines. Mercury, used
to retrieve the gold, is ﬂushed into the river and
poisons ﬁsh—a source of food for the tribes.
Oil companies: These companies are starting to
move in on many forest areas to get at oil deposits.
Guerillas: In politically unstable parts of the world,
guerilla warfare has disrupted the peace of the forest.
Genocide: Tribal people have been killed by those
who simply want them out of the way.
Diseases: Tribal people have never built up any immunity
to diseases such as measles and the ﬂu, so even ﬂeeting
contact with infected outsiders can be devastating.
Hidden away in dense tropical rain
forests in the Amazon and Indonesia
live a handful of small tribes, mostly
untouched by the modern world.
These tribes exist in exactly the same
way as they have done for tens of
thousands of years.
38 39 Lost tribes

35.
The Huaorani of Ecuador
have a deep knowledge of
plants. From one speciﬁc
vine they extract the
paralyzing poison, curare,
which they then use on
the darts of blowpipes
to hunt howler monkeys.
They honor trees and
worship jaguars.
The Nukak of Colombia
build makeshift houses
of leaves, but soon move
on to hunt monkeys with
blowpipes. They dip rattan
vine roots in streams to
release a drug that stuns
ﬁsh. The ﬁsh can then
be hunted with bows
and arrows.
The Mashco Piro live in
the far west of the Amazon
jungle in Peru, in swampy
river regions where they
ﬁsh for food. They were
given the name “mashco,”
which means “nakeds,” by
rubber barons, who tried to
enslave them before they
escaped into the jungle.
The Yora live in the rain
forest of southeast Peru.
During the dry season,
they live by rivers to make
ﬁshing easier, and to pick
up turtles’ eggs on the
rivers’ beaches. In the wet
season, they retreat into
the forest to hunt,
and collect fruits and nuts.
The Korowai of New
Guinea live among forest
treetops. Their skins are
marked by scars, their
noses skewered with
pointed bones, birds’ ribs
curve upward from their
nostrils. lt is thought that
they are cannibals (eat
other humans).
The Una people of New
Guinea make axes from
basalt stone. Great skill is
needed to shape the stone.
This talent is so highly
valued that stone-cutters in
the tribe are considered
to be magicians.
The Agta of the Philippines
are one of the few lost
tribes living by the sea.
They live on ﬁsh, shellﬁsh,
honey, and wild fruit. The
Agta believe that when
any living thing dies—be
it animal or plant—its soul
goes to Anito, the world of
the dead.
The Korubo or Dslala
live in Brazil’s Javari
Valley. They use clubs and
poisoned arrows to kill ﬁsh
and spider monkeys. They
are sometimes known as
“the head-bashers” because
of a mistranslation of
the word for “clubbers.”
For other mysterious peoples, go to Nazca Lines on pp. 32–33, Rosetta Stone on pp. 116–117, and Ancient technology on pp. 128–129.

36.
Patriot, 1812
Theodosia Burr, the daughter of United
States vice president Aaron Burr, was on the
sailing ship Patriot, bound for New York City
when it vanished without a trace.
Douglas DC-3, 1948
A Douglas airliner carrying 32 people vanished
en route from Puerto Rico to Miami, Florida.
Flight 19 TBM Avengers, 1945
Five TBM Avenger bombers vanished in
a clear blue sky while on a training ﬂight.
Star Tiger, 1948, and Star Ariel, 1949
Two passenger planes ﬂying from
Bermuda to Jamaica disappeared
without sending a distress call.
40 41 Bermuda Triangle
Bermuda Triangle
Mystery clouds the waters of the western Atlantic
Ocean off the Florida coast. Known as the Bermuda
Triangle, the area is said to strike fear into the hearts
of those traveling through it. Here, ships allegedly
disappear without a trace, planes vanish off the radar
never to be seen again, and strange lights hover
in the sky. What on earth is happening?
Mary Celeste, 1872
The ship Mary Celeste was
found ﬂoating intact, but
there was no sign of her
passengers and crew.

37.
USS Cyclops, 1918
The US battleship Cyclops
disappeared with the loss
of all its crew of 306.
Raifuku Maru, 1925
The Japanese ship Raifuku Maru sank
after sending a distress call, “Danger
like dagger now. Come quick!”
USS Scorpion, 1968
The American nuclear submarine
Scorpion was lost, apparently
without a trace.
Teignmouth Electron, 1969
Round-the-world yachtsman
Donald Crowhurst’s yacht was
found ﬂoating abandoned.
WHAT’S GOING ON?
Many people have tried to explain the
mystery of the Bermuda Triangle. Could
it be a “natural” phenomenon? Ships
might be engulfed by giant methane
bubbles erupting from the seabed,
or it could be that variations in the
Earth’s magnetic ﬁeld make compasses
go haywire. Perhaps ships and planes
are hit by the sudden, violent storms
to which the area is prone.
Some people think something far
more disturbing is going on. Still-active
death rays from the lost city of Atlantis,
abductions by alien spacecraft, and
time warps have all been suggested.
In fact, there is no mystery at all. The
shipping insurers Lloyds of London
say the Bermuda Triangle is no more
dangerous than anywhere else. The US
Coast Guard agrees. In fact, hundreds
of ships and planes pass through the
Triangle every day without any problems.
SO, WHERE DID THE
LOST CRAFT AND
MISSING PERSONS
END UP?

38.
42 43 Lost property ofﬁce
Raifuku Maru
04.21.1925
There was nothing mysterious
about the disappearance of
the Raifuku Maru. It was
caught in a severe storm
some distance outside the
Bermuda Triangle. Another ship,
Homeric, witnessed the Raifuku
Maru sinking and made an
unsuccessful rescue attempt.
Douglas DC 3
12.28.1948
Documents at the time show the
aircraft’s batteries were not fully
charged before the ﬂight, but the pilot
insisted on taking off. However, there
is no way of knowing if this had any
effect on the plane, which was
powered by gas engines.
Teignmouth Electron
07.10.1969
Donald Crowhurst’s
logbooks, recovered from
Teignmouth Electron, reveal
that he was in a very disturbed
state of mind. He falsiﬁed his
position in the round-the-world
yacht race, so he wasn’t even
in the Bermuda Triangle. He
may have jumped overboard.
Flight 19 TBM Avengers
12.05.1945
Piecing together various bits
of evidence reveals that this
group of aircraft got lost in a
cloud and was blown by winds
much farther out over the
Atlantic than they realized.
The probable explanation
is that they ran out of fuel.
Mary Celeste
12.05.1872
The Mary Celeste was actually found off the
coast of Portugal, thousands of miles across
the Atlantic, and not in the Bermuda Triangle
at all. However, another ship, called the Mari
Celeste, did sink near Bermuda in 1864—
hence the mix-up.

39.
Want to know about other mysterious disappearances? Go to The mystery of the Mary Celeste on pp. 44–47 and Lord Lucan on pp. 142–143.
USS Cyclops
03.04.1918
Although there were no signs
of a battle, Cyclops was lost
at the height of World War I—
so enemy action cannot be
ruled out. In 1975, there was
a sighting of the ship’s wreck
on the ocean bed off Virginia,
where a powerful storm had
occurred back in 1918.
Patriot
12.30.1812
Pirates were very active in the
area at this time, so Patriot may
have come under attack. Or, the
ship may have been a casualty
of the war of 1812 between
the US and UK. No one knows
what happened to the vice
president’s daughter.
USS Scorpion
05.26.1968
The Scorpion did not
disappear in the Bermuda
Triangle at all, but near the
Azores, far to the east. The
navy bathyscaphe Trieste
later took pictures of the
wreck. A court inquiry
concluded that the USS
Scorpion was destroyed
by one of her own
malfunctioning torpedoes.
Star Tiger and Star Ariel,
1948 and 1949 respectively
These were not the only Avro Tudor IV planes to
disappear. In 1947, Star Dust also vanished—over
the Andes Mountains. The wreckage was found in
1998, and the evidence suggests the cause was
pilot error or instrument failure.
LOST PROPERTY OFFICE

41.
n the afternoon of
December 5, 1872, the
sailing ship Dei Gratia was
gliding calmly across the Atlantic
towards Portugal. The weather was
fair, and Dei Gratia’s captain, David
Morehouse, was surprised to look
out and see a ship he recognized as
the Mary Celeste. This ship had left
NewYork City a week before him,
so it should have been far ahead.
As he watched, Morehouse saw the
Mary Celeste swing around suddenly
in the wind as if out of control. This
was very strange, for he knew the
Mary Celeste’s captain, Benjamin
Briggs, was a good seaman. He tried
hailing but there was only silence.
or two hours, Morehouse
surveyed the Mary Celeste
sailing west, all apparently ﬁne
except for its strange yawing
to and fro. Eventually, Morehouse
could watch no more, and sent his
chief mate, Oliver Deveau, across
in a small boat to the other ship.
Climbing aboard, Deveau found the
Mary Celeste absolutely empty.
There was no sign of Captain
Briggs, his wife Sarah, their
two-year-old daughter, or the
crew.Yet, aside from some water
between the decks and a couple
of hatch covers missing, the ship
appeared in good condition.
Where were they all? That question
has intrigued people ever since...
fter discovering the Mary
Celeste was deserted,
Morehouse put three men
on board. In a sad mood,
they sailed her on to
Gibraltar. Immediately, an inquiry
was launched to discover what had
happened. Morehouse hoped at
least to claim salvage for the Mary
Celeste, but soon found himself in
the dock—since the attorney just
could not believe they had found
the ship drifting unmanned. He was
eventually cleared, but the inquiry
came to no ﬁrm conclusion. So
what did happen? For the evidence
and the theories, turn the page...
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42.
46 47 The Mystery of the Mary Celeste
The evidence
 Two hatches were open.
 The ship’s clock was upside down and had stopped.
 The sextant (instrument for celestial navigation) and
chronometer (shipping timepiece) were missing.
 The Captain’s bed was sodden and there was
water between the decks.
 Under the bed was the Captain’s sword, with red stains.
 The lifeboat was missing, leaving a frayed rope.
 The cargo of 1,700 barrels of pure alcohol was intact,
except for nine empty barrels.
 On board, there was food to last six months.
 The last entry in the ship’s log was about a week old.
The
mystery
of the
Mary
Celeste

43.
For more mysteries at sea, see Who crossed the Atlantic ﬁrst? on pp. 30–31, Bermuda Triangle on pp. 40–41, and Atlantis on pp. 212–213.
Mutiny!
Theory: The crew became angry with Briggs’
leadership and murdered him and his family,
then escaped in the lifeboat.
Evidence: The red-stained sword, the missing
lifeboat, and the deserted ship.
Problems: Briggs was renowned for being a good
and fair captain. The stain on the sword turned out
to be rust and not blood. Even if there was a mutiny,
this does not explain why the crew would jump into
a lifeboat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
Drunken sailors
Theory: The crew murdered the captain and
his family to get at the alcohol in the cargo,
then escaped in the lifeboat.
Evidence: The stained sword and the nine empty
barrels, which had contained alcohol.
Problems: The cargo of alcohol was undrinkable
and, like the captain, the crew had an admirable
reputation. As we know, the stain on the sword was
rust, and the crew would have faced great danger
on a small lifeboat in the turbulent Atlantic.
Rogue wave
Theory: The entire crew was swept overboard
by a giant wave.
Evidence: The water between the decks.
Problems: It seems highly unlikely that a single
wave would have caught everyone. Even if it had,
you would expect a lot more items to be missing
than just the sextant and the compass.
Sinking
Theory: The crew thought the ship was sinking,
so took to the lifeboat to escape. This was the
theory decided by the court hearing at the time.
Evidence: Water in the hold.
Problems: The ship’s pump was working well
enough for the sailors from the Dei Gratia to
pump out the water and take the Mary Celeste
safely back to port.
Insurance scam
Theory: Briggs and Morehouse conspired
in a scam to get the insurance money.
Evidence: None.
Problems: The ship and its cargo would have to
be lost for there to be an insurance claim. Instead,
everybody on board was missing but the cargo
remained largely intact. So who was supposed
to claim the insurance, and for what?
Poisoning
Theory: They got ergot (a fungus) poisoning
from the rye bread they were eating. This drove them
insane and they left in the lifeboat.
Evidence: The bread on the Mary Celeste was rye
and is poisonous if made from ergot-infected grain.
Problems: All the bread found by the Dei Gratia
crew was ﬁne. Even if they did go insane, why would
they want to ﬂee together in the lifeboat?
The Bermuda Triangle
Theory: The crew was abducted by aliens
in the Bermuda Triangle.
Evidence: None.
Problems: The ship was sighted near Portugal
and so was nowhere near the Bermuda Triangle.
Explosion
Theory: Alcohol leaking from some of the barrels
exploded, frightening Briggs and his crew into
abandoning the ship temporarily. The lifeboat then
separated from the Mary Celeste during a heavy storm.
Evidence: The nine barrels may have exploded,
blowing off the hatch covers. The missing sextant
and chronometer would have been helpful in the
lifeboat. The frayed rope that trailed the Mary
Celeste could have been used to tie the lifeboat
to the ship. The water on board could be evidence
of bad weather. Recent scientiﬁc tests have
shown that alcohol can explode without a ﬁre.
Problems: There was little evidence of an
explosion anywhere on the ship.
The theories
You’ve seen the evidence and you’ve read the theories, so what do you think happened on board
the mysterious Mary Celeste?

44.
WHO ARE THE MEN IN BLACK?
Target 1
One night in 1953, Albert Bender, a
leading researcher in ﬂying saucers and
other UFOs (unidentiﬁed ﬂying objects),
was visited by three men wearing dark
suits. They scared him so much he gave
up all his work on UFOs.
An alien encounter is a freaky experience, but what happens after can be
just as unsettling. Some witnesses describe visits from shadowy characters
dressed in sharp black suits, who demand they zip their lips.
Join the Men in Black
Your mission is to keep the lid on alien
sightings. Whenever someone claims
to have seen an alien or a UFO, you
must move in swiftly to keep them
quiet. The truth must not get out!
First choose your character and
select your superslick vehicle.
Move in!
I have him.
Target
neutralized.
48 49 Who are the Men in Black?

45.
Aliens in disguise?
Some people say the Men in
Black are aliens who disguise
themselves as human beings.
The makeover isn’t always that
convincing. Herbert Hopkins
described the Man in Black who visited him
as having very pale skin, lacking eyelashes
and eyebrows, and wearing bright red lipstick!
Government agents?
A popular theory is that
the Men in Black are really
government agents. The
reason they target alien
watchers is uncertain. Does the
US government want to keep people in the dark
about aliens? Or are they simply concerned
that the public will discover military secrets?
All in your head?
The Men in Black could just
be ﬁgments of people’s
imaginations, created when in
a dreamy state of mind, or when
under extreme stress. It could
be that the alien witnesses are undergoing
some sort of mental upheaval at the time of
the encounter and are more prone to fantasy.
Fictional fakes
The idea of Men in Black may
be an elaborate hoax by an
American UFO researcher. Gray
Barker published books about
alien encounters and often
included stories about Men in Black. However,
one of his colleagues claims that Barker often
presented ﬁctional tales as factual accounts.
Did he make up the Men in Black tales?
Mothman
In 1966 and 1967, several
people in West Virginia claimed
they saw a strange creature the
size of a man with eyes in its
chest and moth wings. Since
mysterious men dressed in black had also been
seen in the area, some people speculated that
they were linked.
THE THEORIES
Target 2
In 1965, trafﬁc cop Rex Heﬂin took three
photos of a metallic-looking disk in the
sky that he thought was a ﬂying saucer.
He claims he was visited by men dressed
in black suits who claimed to be from
NORAD, the US government agency for
aerospace defense, who made him hand
over the pictures.
Target 3
Dr. Herbert Hopkins was visited by a Man in Black in 1976
after he made research notes about two alien encounters.
Hopkins claims the man made a coin dematerialize and then
threatened to make Hopkins’s heart vanish in the same way
if he didn’t destroy all his notes. Yikes!
You have chosen
Agent A.
You will wear:
a cool black suit
a sharp white
shirt and black tie
dark glasses
to hide your
glowing eyes
Now select your
transportation:
black limo
black van
black truck
black helicopter
ﬂying saucer
white sedan
Government
agents!
Open up!
You will forget
we even met.
Who else is watching you? Find out in Global eavesdropping on pp. 22–23 and Everyday surveillance on pp. 56–57.
Second ﬂoor,
blue door.
Now!

46.
50 51 Time travel
Could we ever travel through time?
Is it possible to go back to Roman
times and watch a chariot race, or
drop in on the prehistoric era and
come face to face with a dinosaur?
How about zooming forward in time
to see what wonders the future
holds? People have always traveled
through time in their imaginations,
but, in 1895, H. G. Wells wrote
a story called The Time Machine
about an amazing vehicle that could
physically carry people through time.
Could such machines ever become a
reality? Time to ﬁnd out...
TIME
TRAVEL